Center punch



May 26, 1925.

N. STRAMAGLIA CENTER PUNCH Filed Feb. 5, 1921 fm F pl/ fit) Patented May 26, 1925.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

CENTER PUNCH.

Application led February 5, 1921.

To ZZ whom t may concern.'

lie it known that I, Nien STRAMAGLIA, a citizen of the United States, residing at Ghicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented new and useful Improvements in Center Punches, of which the 'following is a specification.

rIhis invention relates to center punches and an object of the invention is to provide a center punch constructed to facilitate the finding of the center of an article and scribing of said center.

Another object of this invention is to provide a pair of parallel longitudinally movable measuring bars which are movable from the axis of the center punch equally, whereby the exact center between two edges or sides of an object may be determined by adjusting the measuring bars until their carried fingers engage the sides of the article.

A further object of this invention is to provide a center punch as speciied which is constructed so that, after the center has been found, the punch may be struck a blow with a hammer or analogous tool to mark the center of the article.

Other objects of the invention will appear in the following detailed description and in the accompanying drawings wherein:

Fig. 1 is a side elevation of the improved center punch.

Fig. 2 is an edge elevation of the improved center punch looking at it from a point at right angles to that from which Fig. 1 was taken.

Fig. 8 is a longitudinal section through the improved center punch.

Fig. 4 is a detailed view of one of the measuring bars of the center punch.

F ig. 5 is a horizontal section through the center punch taken on the line 5 5 of Fig. Si, and l Fig. 6 is a detail horizontal section taken on the line 6 6 of Fig. 3.

Referring more particularly to the drawing, the improved center punch comprises the carrying body 1 which has parallel arms 2 and 3, upon the lowler end of which a head 4 is formed. The upper ends ot the arms 2 and 3 curve outwardly as shown at 5 and have a bearing 6 carried thereby which aligns with the central opening in the head 4 and which bearing receives the Serial N'O. 442,885.

upper spindle end 7 of the post 8, the lower spindle end 9 of which extends into the central bearing 10 of the center point 11. The center point 11 has upstandin-g tongues 12 formed thereon which are securedoin lateral recesses in the head 4 and hold the point 11 against rotation permitting the post 8 to rotate in the bearing 6 and bearing opening 10. The post 8 has a pinion 14 rigidly mounted thereon which meshes with the rack teeth upon measuring bars 15 and 16. The measuring bars 15 and 16 extend parallel to each other and through guideways 17 formed in the head 4. As shown in Fig. 5 of the drawings the rack teeth 18 on the rack bars 15 and 16 face so that upon rotation of the pinion 14, measuring bars 15 and 16 will move in opposite directions and in unison, one moving from the axis of the post 8 in the direction opposite to the direction in which the other one moves thus maintaining uniform distances between the axis of the post 8 and the engaging fingers 19 and 2O which are carried by the ends of the measuring bars 15 and 16 respectively.

It it is so desired the measuring bars 15 and 16 may be made of telescopically connected sections, as clearly shown in Fig. 4 of the drawings, which telescoping sections are held against relative movement by ric tion or any other suitable means, and it is to be understood that the fingers 19 and 2() are carried by the outer ends of the outwardly movable sections 21 of the measuring bars 15 and 16.

A thumb knob 22 is mounted on the post 8 within the outwardly bowed portions 5 to facilitate the manual rotation of the post. A measuring device, such as a tape measure 23 is carried by the post 8 and connected to the finger carrying end of the measuring bar 16 by a pin or the like 23. The tape measure 23 may be of any approved type of spring return tape measure such as can be purchased upon the open market and it is mounted upon the post 8, in such manner that when the arm 16 is moved outwardly by rotation of the post, the tape measure will unwind from its casing in the usual manner and thus the radius of one-half of the width of the article being centered may be readily determined by the distance measured upon the Iportion of the tape measure unwound and by multiplying the same by two the diameter or width of the article being centered may be readily determined.

In use, when it is desired to find the center of an object, the measuring bars 15 and 16 are moved outwardly so that they may be later moved inwardly to bring the lingers 19 and 20 in engagement with the edges of the object to be measured at which time,'

owing to the uniform movement of the measuring bars the point of the center punch will be equidistantly spaced from each side of the article and thus by striking the center punch a blow with a hammer or other tool the center may be marked or scribed on the article.

As clearly shown in Fig. 2 of the drawings the fingers 19 and 20 are shaped to fit snugly against the sides of the cone or point 11 of the center punch when the arms 2l are telescoped in the measuring bar 16 providing a relatively compact tool which can be conveniently carried about.

It is, of course, to be understood that the invention may be constructed in various other manners and the part-s associated in different relations and, therefore, I do not desire to be limited in any manner except as set forth in the claims hereunto appended.

Having thus described my invention what I lclaim is:

1. In a center punch, the combination, of a scribing point, an operating post upstanding therefrom, measuring arms movably supported relative to the point, means operatively connecting the post and arms to move the latter in opposite directions from the axis of said point, and a measuring tape carried by said post and operatively connected to one of the arms.

2. A center punch comprising a carrying body, an operating shaft supportedV centrally of the body, a pair of measuring bars movable uniformly in opposite directions relative to said shaft and supported by said body, a center indicating element carried by the body, a measuring tape supported by the body for movement and operatively connected to one of said bars and extending in parallelism with the bar in the movement of the latter.

In testimony whereof I aiiix my signature.

' NICK STRAMAGLIA. 

